Process of and apparatus for preparing textile fiber for spinning



1,689,289 N. H. MIDGLEY -PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING TEXTILE FIBER FOR SPINNINQ Filed Dec. 16, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 y lfs.

Oct. 30, 1928. I 1,689,289

- N. H. MIDGLEY PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING TEXTILE FIBER-FOR SPINNING Filed Dec. 16, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 N c N .I Q N & A Ag R Z 7? U671JJ? 7f.

Patented Get. 30, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NORMAN H. MIDGLEY, OF ITEVJTON CENTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FGR PREPARING TEXTILE FIBER FOR SPINNING.

Application filed December 18, 1926. Serial No. 155,15

This inventionpertains to the preparation of textile fiber for spinning and more particularly to a process of and apparatus for combing wool tops in the production of worsted yarns. In accordance with usual methods of combing, the fibers which vary considerably in length, are straightened and dis-' posed in more or less parallel relation and are eventually so arranged that they are gripped and supported at one end only, their other ends being free, these preliminarymanipulations being well understood in the art. The combs commonly employed are of circular type and comprise one or more comb circles or rings having projecting teeth, pins or equivalent devices which constitute the means for gripping or confining the fibers at one end as above referred to. The free ends of the fibers project radially from the comb ring, and as the latter rotates the free ends of the longest fibers are seized by a pair of rolls turning on axes substantially parallel to the axis of the comb circle or ring and which pull out these longest fibers from the comb teeth and deliver them in the form of a sliver which is then balled or wound in any approved manner. While such an arrangement separates out the short fibers which do not project far enough from the comb ring to be seized by the rollers, it nevertheless produces a sliver containing fibers which diifer very materially in length, and a large number of subsequent evening operations are necessary before the fiber can be spun to form a worsted yarn of high and uniform quality.

In accordance with the present invention I am able to deliver from the comb a sliver of such uniform quality that it can be spun directly into yarn with less evening operations than are usually thought necessary while at the same time I use the material more economically and with a less production of noils than by usual methods and apparatus. This improved result I accomplish, briefly, by grading the fibers as they are delivered from the comb in accordance with their lengths and simultaneously forming a plurality of slivers which are separately wound or balled as desired, all of the fibers in any one said slivers being of substantially the same length or at least of a length within a relatively narrow and a predetermined range, the fiber length being difierent for each sliver.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown certain elements'of a circular comb of the well-known Lister type and have also shown preferred mechanism applied thereto for performing my improved process, it bemg understood that the invention is in no way restricted to this particular environment or embodiment and that the drawings are merely illustrative of one form of apparatus suitable for the purpose. 7

Referring to the drawings,

F g. 1 is a fragmentary plan view illuss trating certain elements of a Lister comb and showing the present improvements applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section substantially on ale line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

, Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section substantially on the line of Fig. 1, but to larger scale; and

Fig. lis a fragmentary elevation illustrating a roller device of a type slightly different from that shown in the preceding figures.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates a portion of the supporting frame of a Lister comb. This frame supports the rotating comb ring 2 which is provided with the internal gear ring 3 having teeth t which mesh with the teeth of a pinion 5 carried by a vertical shaft 6. This shaft is provided with a ge r 7 which meshes with another gear,not shown, forming a part of the usual driving mechanism of the Lister comb. Since the detail features of the Lister comb form no part of the present invention it is believed unnecessary to illustrate such comb with any greater particularity herein, it being understood that the following described mechanism is equally applicable to circular combs of other types.

The comb circle or ring 2 is provided with circumferential series of vertical comb pins or teeth T. The number of concentric series of such pins or teeth is determined by the character of the material employed as is well understood by those skilled in'the art. The usual preliminary operations of straightening the fibers are performed by the comb mechanism, (not shown) by means of which the fibers are brought into more or less parallel relation, and eventually the fibers are laid as indicated at 8 inFig. 1, extendingmore or less racially of the comb ring and being confined at one end between the pins or teeth T of the ring.

At their outer ends the fibersare free and the mass of fibers extending around the circumference of the comb ring is usually quite thin in a vertical direction. This fibrous mass comprises fibers which may vary greatly in length but which are mingled 1ndiscriminately in the teeth of the comb.

In accordance with the present invention the main frame 1 of the Lister comb is provided with an extension 9 which supports an angularly adjustable plate or auxiliary frame 10. This auxiliary frame 10 swings in a horizontal plane about the axis of a vertical shaft 11, hereinafter more fully described.

The auxiliary frame comprises upstanding brackets 12 and 13 which carry journals for a pair of front shafts 14 and a pair of rear shafts 15, respectively. The shafts 14 are parallel to each other as are also the shafts 15, and preferably the. two pairs of shafts are also parallel.

Each front shaft 14 is provided with an elongate roller 16 which may be of any suitable material, for example wood, or metal covered with leather or the like, and each rear shaft 15 also carries an elongate roller 17. If desired an endless belt or apron may replace the two lower rollers, or such belt or apron may connect the lower rollers as shown at 17 If made of suitable material it is obvious that the rollers and their respective shafts may be of integral construction.

Shafts 14 and 15 project at one end beyond their bearings and the shafts 14 are furnished with intermeshing gears 18, while the shafts 15 are furnished with intermeshing gears 19. The shafts of each pair are thus constrained to turn in opposite directions. Outwardly, beyond the gear wheels 18 and 19, the lower shafts 14 and 15 are provided with sprocket wheels for the reception of the driving chain 20. Both pairs of rolls thus turn with the same speed.

The shafts 14 are so arranged that they intersect the axis of the vertical shaft 11, and upon the upper end of the latter there is mounted a bevel pinion 21 which meshes with a bevel pinion 22 upon one of the shafts 14. As thus arranged rotation of the shaft 11 drives the shafts 14, and also drives the shafts 15 through the chain 20, and the driving connection is such that it is effective regardless of the angle to which the frame 10 may be swung.

The shaft 11 is driven by means of intermeshing gears 23, one of which is mounted on a shaft 24 which receives its motion through intermeshing gears 25, one of which is carried by the shaft 6.

The frame 10 is preferably provided with arcuate guides-lots 26 concentric with the axis of the shaft 6 and which receive guiding pins or equivalent elements carried by the base frame 9. One or more of these slots may be provided with a set screw or clamping device 27 by means of which the frame 10 may be secured in selected position of angular adjustment.

The rollers 16 of the front pair, and preferably the rollers 17 of the rear pair also, are divided by grooves 28 into series of sections or roll elements 29, 29, 29", 29 and 29. While I prefer to form these independent roll elements by grooving an elongate roller, I contemplate that they may be pro duced in other ways, as for example by forming such roll elements independently and slipping them upon the shaft with the provision of suitable spacing means to provide the desired groove between adjacent roll elements. It is to be understood that each roll element of the upper shaft of a pair cooperates with a similar roll element of the lower shaft of said pair, and the roll elements of a pair cooperate with each other in such a fashion as to grip between them any fibers which may be presented to the bite of the rolls and thus pull said fibers in the direction of the arrow B in Fig. 1. Preferably the rollers of a pair are urged toward one another by spring means as is common in connection with fiber manipulating rolls of textile machinery and suitable adjusting means may be provided for limiting the approach of the rolls.

While in Fig. 1 each roller is shown as divided into five roll elements by the grooves 28, it is to be understood that a greater or lesser number of such divisions may be provided as shown for example in Fig. 4, where the shaft 14 carries a roller divided into four sections 299, 299, etc. In accordance with the type of material to be operated on, the number of roll sections may be varied, it being contemplated that the machine will be provided with interchangeable rollers which may be substituted one for the other as circumstances may require. It is also contemplated that the diameter of the rollers may be varied from that herein shown as desired and it is to be understood that the fiber delivered from the rear pair of rollers 17 will be coiled, balled or wound by means of any usual mechanism which forms no part of the present invention.

Inspection of Fig. 1 will show that the axes of the front shafts 14 are substantially tangent to the circumference of the comb circle or ring and that the roll section 29 is much nearer to the circumference of the ring than is the roll section 29 at the opposite end of the shaft. By swinging the frame 10 the angularity of the front rolls relative to the circumference of the comb ring may be varied, but in all adjustments the roll section 29 will still remain closer to the ring than the section 29 in the operation of the device the comb circle or ring is rotated in the direction of the arrow A in the usual manner, thus was ing the projecting free ends of the fibers of the mass carried by the comb teeth to move toward the front rollers 16. Although the fibers of the mass carried by the comb teeth project in a generally radial direction they are quite nearly parallel, it being understood that the comb circle or ring in actual practice is of large diameter so that although the fibers are radial they approach parallelism. It is thus fairly easy to pull fibers radially out from the rest without greatly disturbing adjacent fibers.

Since the sections 29 of the front rollers are at a considerable distance from the comb ring, only the longest fibers of the mass carried by the ring are fed into the bite of the roll sections 29 These roll sections, being constantly in movement, seize these longest fibers and pull them out from between the comb teeth T and deliver them in the form of a sliver S to the corresponding sections of the rear rolls 17. Since the roll sections 29 can not grasp fibers below a certain length, it follows that substantially all of the fibers in the sliver S are within a limited length range and to all intents and purposes the fibers in this sliver are of uniform length, the ap proximation to uniformity depending, as one factor at least, upon the length of the section 29 This latter statement may be understood by noting that by decreasing the length of the sections of the front rolls, each section is confined in its action to a smaller range of fiber lengths, so that it is quite possible, if desired, toproduce a sliver in which all fibers are of almost exactly the same length.

After the first and longest fibers have been pulled out of the mass on the comb ring, the next longest fibers are gripped by the sections 29 and delivered by them in the form of second sliver S In this sliver the fibers are also of substantially the same length, but are all shorter than the fibers of the sliver S. Likewise the successive sections of the front rolls seize and pull off fibers of shorter and shorter lengths, the shortest fibers which it is desired to deliver being those grasped by the roll sections 29 and which are delivered to form the sliver S The fibers remaining upon the comb teeth, after the action of the last pair of roll sections are removed from the comb pins or teeth in usual manner as waste.

Not only is it possible to increase the accuracy of gradation of the fibers by increas ing the number of roll sections upon the front rolls, but it is also possible to vary the action by swinging the frame 10 about the axis of the shaft 6, thus causing the outermost roll section 29 to approach or retract from the comb ring and thus to seize fibers of greater or lesser length. g

The machine thus grades the fiber in accordance with its length and delivers each particular grade in the form of a separate sliver. As the fibers in each sliver are all of almost uniform length it is possible to spm such slivers directly without intermediate the purpose, I contemplate that other fiber withdrawing means, for example nippers, may be substituted for the rollers, provided such fiber withdrawing means are arranged to grasp the fibers in accordance with varia tions in length and to deliver the fibers in separate slivers or masses in each of which the fibers are of substantially the same length. I also contemplate that other and obvious changes may be made in the structure herein illustrated without departing from the spirit of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

I clain 1. Apparatus of the class described comprising a rotary circular comb ring having teeth for confining one end of the fibers of a mass, the other ends of said fibers being free and extending radially of the comb ring, av series of coaxial pairs of roller elements, and means for rotating the comb ring and turning the roller elements, the axes of said roller elements being so disposed relating to the comb ring that the roller elements at one end of the series are nearer to the circumference of the comb ring than those at the other.

2. Apparatus of the class described comprising a rotary circular combring having teeth for confining the fibers of a mass at one end, means for rotating the comb ring, a series of pairs of roller elements, parallel shafts upon which the roller elements are mounted, the axes of said shafts being substantially tangent to the comb ring, the roller elements at one end of the series being closely adjacent to the circumference of the ring, and means for turning the roller elements whereby to grip and draw olf fibers from the comb ring.

3. Apparatus of the class described comprisin a rotary circular comb ring having teeth for confining the fibers of a mass at one end, means for rotating the comb ring, aframe supporting two pairs of shafts, the axes of one pair of said shafts being substantially tangent to the circumference of the comb ring, a grooved roller mounted upon each shaft of said tangent pair, that portion of each roller between adjacent grooves constituting a roll element cooperating with a similar element of the opposed roller of the pair to grip and draw off fiber from the comb ring, and means for driving the rollers of each pair.

4. Apparatus of the class described comprising a rotary circular comb ring having teeth for confining the fibers of a mass at one end, means for rotating the comb ring, a pair of rollers having their axes substantially tangent to the comb ring, one end of each roll being closer to the circumference of the ring than its other end, means for turning the rollers whereby to grip and draw off fibers from the comb ring, and means for separating the fiber drawn off throughout the length of the rollers into independent slivers.

5. Apparatus of the class described comprising a rotary circular comb ring having teeth for confining the fibers of a mass at one end, means for rotating the comb ring, a frame pivotally supported adjacent to the circumference of the comb ring to swing about an axis substantially parallel to that of the ring, a pair of roller-carrying shafts journaled in the frame, the axes of the said shafts intersecting the pivotal axis of the frame, a roller element mounted on each shaft, said elements cooperating to draw off fiber from the comb ring, means for rotating the shafts, and means for retaining the frame in selected position of adjustment about its pivotal axis.

6. Apparatus of the class described comprising a rotary circular comb ring having teeth for confining the fibers of a mass at one end, means for rotating the comb ring, a frame pivotally supported adjacent to the circumference of the comb ring to swing about an axis substantially parallel to that of the ring, a pair of cooperating roller elements carried by the frame, the axes of said elements intersecting the pivotal axis of the frame, means for continuously rotating the roller elements in opposite directions in all positions of the frame, one end of each roller element always being nearer to the circumference of the ring than its other end, and means for holding the frame in selected position of adjustment.

Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts, this 18th day of September, 1926.

NOR-MAN H. MIDGLEY. 

